I. CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION Doyle School Pre K Age 4 Full Day Inclusion- Mrs. Rightmyer/ Ms. Molta January was a fun-filled month for our Pre-K class! We were all so eager and excited to come back to school and share what we did over Christmas break. It was Pet/Vet Theme in our classroom! We had a Veterinary Hospital, an Obedience School, the Groomers, a Pet Bakery, a Pet Shop and a Pet Accessories Store. This theme was so much fun! To bring our classroom theme to life, we decided to take a trip to the Animal Hospital of Hasbrouck Heights! There, we saw all different rooms and tools that treat sick animals. There was a dental room, an x-ray room, a treatment room, and a recovery room. While there, we even saw a cat who was recovering from surgery! His name was Charlie. To go along with our theme, we did our first real project! We researched any animal of our choice and learned two new facts about it. Then, we made posters to present to the class! Each week of this month we learned letters L, M, N and O! We also learned how to read and write the sight word “play.” Poetry Cafe is something that we now do every Friday. On Mondays, we learn a new rhyme. We practice that rhyme all week. So far we have learned ‘I’m a Little Teapot,’ ‘Jack and Jill,’ and ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.’ At our Poetry Cafe on Fridays, we all sit around with a cup of hot chocolate and take turns reciting our rhyme of the week. It is so much fun. Superintendent’s Monthly Report January 2016 1 Pre K Full Day Self Contained- Ms. Albonico This month, our Pre-K started the new Tools of the Mind theme: Pet/Vet. The centers include the vet, pet shop, obedience school, pet shelter, pet bakery, and the groomers. The students enjoy interacting in these centers and pretending they are taking care of the animals. All of the Pre-K classes took the bus and went on a class trip to the Animal Hospital in Hasbrouck Heights. The students got a tour of the hospital and saw a cat that stayed overnight at the Hospital. They enjoyed going there and exploring what an Animal Hospital looks like. The students also learned the letters J, K and L. They learned songs and did crafts that start with those letters. In the morning, the students answered a mystery question. This month we changed that to matching shapes. They are all doing a great job finding the matching shapes. The students also learned a few nursery rhymes. We say these nursery rhymes each day! Superintendent’s Monthly Report January 2016 2 Pre K Age 4 Full Day- Ms. Pollaro January started our Tools of the Mind Pet Vet Theme. We had a veterinarian in the dramatic play center with x-rays, stethoscopes, and other doctor tools. In our literacy center, we created our own pet shop, where you can buy all your pet accessories. We also had a groomers, obedient school, and animal shelter. We learned letters L, M, and N and completed crafts that associated with those letters. We took a field trip to the Hasbrouck Heights Animal Hospital! It was so much fun! We paired up with the 2nd grade for some book buddy time. We also started our Preschool Poetry Café! We drink hot chocolate or chocolate milk and read nursery rhymes. Superintendent’s Monthly Report January 2016 3 Pre K Age 3 PM Session- Ms. Nolan January was a great start to the New Year for the Preschool children. Everyone came back ready to learn more letters and numbers. During this month we covered letters K, L, and M. Students created crafts that incorporate the letters, learned the sounds, and how to write each letter using the strokes from graphics practice. To incorporate our new themes that involved the doctor’s office and Veterinarian, students made x-rays of their hands, and created pets that would want to adopt. We took our first field trip to the Veterinarian’s office in Hasbrouck Heights with the other preschool classes. In January, we continued to add new activities, additional freeze dance cards, and mystery question shapes. Tools of the Mind activities included number hopscotch; I have who has numbers, science eyes and making collections. Students really love our new activities that involve shapes and numbers. During the last week in January, the class focused on numbers one through twenty and reviewed all the letters we have learned so far. The children are looking forward to our next theme, community because they enjoy living in Wood-Ridge. Kindergarten- Mrs. DePalma Our class came back from winter break with so much enthusiasm. We have added many more high frequency words and word families to our list of words to know. We have started reading sentences using our high frequency words and word families. Also these words have helped us to read the books on Raz kids at home. Through reading and writing our vocabulary has definitely grown. Superintendent’s Monthly Report January 2016 4 In writing we are learning to expand our sentences. We try to be more descriptive when we write so that it gives a better picture about our story of Jack and Annie and their adventures. In math, we have learned about addition and subtraction. We not only learned the words add, take away, and sum, but we also learned the signs t, -, and =.We Can also count to 100 in many different ways – by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s. In social studies we reads about talked about Martin Luther King and his dream. Our class drew pictures about their dreams and their friendships with one another. So far we are enjoying our kindergarten year and its adventures. We are now half way through and have so much more to learn. Kindergarten- Ms. Goodlin We have been focusing on many topics in class in reading and writing class we have been reading, writing and acting out Magic Tree House stories for Night of the Ninjas. We have learned a lot of background knowledge on these topics through Power Points provided from the Tools of the Mind program and have created cute crafts such as making Peanut masks (new character) and creating Japanese crafts such as fans and lanterns. Our Math topics we have been focusing on stories about separating and using the minus sign in subtraction sentences. In Science we have focused on topics that are inspired from our Literacy Block (Magic Tree House) and have focused on how shadows are created. We used a new program on our website, BrainPop Jr. to check out the topic and drew our shadows outside. In social studies we have been discussing how to make good choices and in Health class we have read and discussed the topic of fairness in school and in History. Finally we have had a few lessons on Raz-Kids, ABCya.com and use Rosetta Stone on Wednesdays learning Spanish. Kindergarten- Mrs. Pagliocca/Mrs. Nass Our kindergarten cuties returned from winter recess looking bigger and smarter. The children are so excited to be reading. They now have a special folder, that goes home with a book to be read to someone that includes the word families and memory bank words we are learning. The folder is returned with comments that tell how the child read the book. It is a wonderful way to get feedback from the parents to see how their child is progressing at home as well as at school. The children are able to count to higher numbers and skip count to reach 100 quickly. They love playing games at the center with their buddy to help them with learning numbers and the value of them. We have also been subtracting and adding using story problems. It was very exciting to learn about Jack and Annie’s adventure in Japan. The children loved role playing as Ninjas. It is wonderful to see how their minds are absorbing so much information Superintendent’s Monthly Report January 2016 5 about each adventure they take with Jack and Annie. We get such a thrill watching them learn each day! Speech Therapist- Ms. Allen Therapy Session Activities We continue to work hard during speech class in our small group/ individual speech therapy sessions. Speech instruction for all students is working toward complete carryover of accurate sound productions and/or improvement of language goals. Therapy sessions are individualized to each child’s needs, and technology of the iPad is being incorporated into therapy sessions as appropriate. This month we did a winter speech craft. Each student created a snowflake by folding and cutting squares of paper. The children took turns with their speech work while working on the craft. They then had to follow directions on how to make the snowflake. Professional Activities • Continue to help train and mentor the new Speech Language Specialist and get her acquainted with district policies and speech program to ensure a consistent speech program. • Researched current games/activities to enforce speech and language skills within therapy. • Completed in district evaluations: preschool, related service and speech only. • Completed PLAAFP and Goals and Objectives for Related Service students • Attended Planning/Eligibility/Annual Review IEP meetings for Related Service students • Held declassification meetings for Eligible for Speech and Language Services students • Completed annual reviews for Eligible for Speech and Language Services students Speech- Ms. Rustad Therapy Session Activities Happy New Year! All students continued to work hard in their small group/individual therapy sessions, throughout the month of January.